The present invention relates to network communications.
Communications sent over networks can be implemented in the form of messages. A message usually includes content, which can be represented by, for example, text, images, and sound. A message also usually includes address information of a sender of the message as well as address information of an intended recipient of the message. Generally, the sender initiates the message, and the receiver, or intended recipient, is the target or the addressee of the message. A sender can be, for example, a human operator, a computer program product, and a computing system. An intended recipient can likewise be any of the mentioned entities. An intended recipient can be one or more entities. For example, a particular message can be addressed to an intended recipient representing a group of human operators. Senders and intended recipients are correspondents.
There are generally different types of messages. Emails, short-message-service (“SMS”) messages, voice messages, page messages, instant messaging messages, and facsimiles (i.e., faxes) are examples of messages.
Different types of messages can be sent over different types of networks. Email messages, for example, are typically sent over networks that include email servers. The email servers can use the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (“SMTP”). Faxes, for example, are typically sent over networks that include fax machines. Faxes may also be sent over a network that includes computers that have fax applications. Voice messages, for example, are typically sent over a network that include voice mail servers. The networks mentioned can be part of or include portions of the Internet.
A message can also be sent over an interprocess communication environment (“IPCE”), which may include one network, several networks, or a subset of a network. A message can be communicated between processes in different IPCEs by relaying through a process connected to two (or more) IPCEs. That is, mail can be relayed between hosts on different transport systems by a host on both transport systems.
A standardized form of contact information (e.g., a contact alias) can identify one or more of the particular sender and intended recipient. Emails, for example, usually include standardized contact information, usually in the following form: “local_part@domain_part”. Telephone numbers for voice and fax, for example, also usually include standardized contact information. The standardized contact information generally includes digits that represent a country, digits that represent an area code, and digits that represent a terminal device.
The above mentioned networks can include technology that supports a mapping of multiple addresses to a single delivery location. Specific email addresses of a human operator can be linked, i.e., aliased, to an actual email account the human operator uses to connect to the network. For example, personal@BePrivate.com and business@BePrivate.com can both be aliased to alan@pop.BePrivate.com. Messages sent to either of the first two addresses will be delivered to the third account. Similarly, different telephone numbers can map to a single telephone or facsimile machine. Message addresses that are aliased, regardless of the type of message, are referred to in this specification as contact aliases.